President Mahama launches Secondary Education Improvement Programme

The government's quest to develop secondary education in undeserved areas of the country received a major boost yesterday when President John Dramani Mahama launched a US $156 million World Bank ( WB)-sponsored National Secondary Education Improvement Programme at Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Described by the World Bank as its single biggest sponsored education programme in Ghana, the programme is targeted, among other things, at enhancing quality and access to education in the beneficiary districts.

Among the specifics, 23 new community senior high schools ( SHS) will be constructed in districts where there are no SHSs, while 50 existing SHS will be given additional infrastructural facilities such as classrooms, laboratories, administration blocks and Information and Communication Technology ( ICT) centres to facilitate the admission of more students. 

Additionally, 125 existing SHSs will benefit from the programme to improve on the performance of their students in the areas of Science, Mathematics and ICT.

There will also be a full three-year scholarship package for 10,000 students to be selected based on the low-income background of their families. Sixty per cent of beneficiaries will be girls as part of the effort to improve female education in rural communities.

Hundreds of people, mostly from the Brong Ahafo Region, defied an afternoon downpour to take part in the launch.

President Mahama said to ensure transparency in the programme, a website was being developed to ensure easy access by all.

Expected results 

The President said the scholarship package had been organised such that 2,000 students would benefit this academic year, and more would be added on to reach 10,000 by 2018.

He said training programmes would be organised for Mathematics and Science teachers in selected senior high schools to enhance their delivery.

President Mahama said it was unfortunate that such a laudable programme had been turned into "sanitary pad propaganda" by some people.

Nonetheless, he said, the sanitary pad aspect , which constituted a small part of the programme, would be pursued with all seriousness because research had shown that it was worthwhile. 

He commended the World Bank for the support and urged the public to support the programme so that it could make the desired impact.

World Bank Director 

The World Bank Country Director, Mr Yusupha Crookes, said the bank was determined to support Ghana to develop education.

He said the programme was guided by the understanding that "business cannot be as usual in closing the large gap in access to SHS education in Ghana."

The Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, appealed to striking teachers to return to the classrooms since it was innocent children who were suffering most from their action.

In his welcome address, the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Eric Opoku, said the region was blessed to host the launch of such an  important national programme.

The ceremony was chaired by the Yejihene and President of the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs, Pemampem Yaw Kagberese.